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Language Stories Here are some true
stories about languages.
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Stories |
No Right Turn on Red. A German liaison officer came to the U.S. to work for
several years at a military base in New Mexico. He spoke good English as well as German.
Since he and his wife were staying so long he was able to obtain a New Mexico driver's
license. On one of their trips back to Germany, he and his wife were driving in a
rental car. Accustomed to making a right turn on red in the United States, he forgot it
was not allowed in Germany, and he made such a turn. The little green and white German
police car was on him in a flash.
He showed the police officer his New Mexico Driver's
license but talked to him in perfect German. The police officer thought he was an
American and explained that right turns on red were not allowed. He decided not to give
him a ticket. As the police officer was ready to leave, he said that he had never heard an
American speak such good German before and he was wondering how he learned it so well.
Without missing a beat the German officer told him "My wife is German."
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Sorry, The
Gift Shop Is Closed. When
I was in Martinique on a Caribbean vacation, I decided to learn a little Martinique
Creole. It is sort of the Martinique version of French, the official language of the
island which belongs to France. Well, on Sunday morning, I came down to the hotel lobby to
buy some postcards but the gift shop was closed. I was scheduled to leave by plane in the
afternoon and the hotel desk clerk said it wouldn't be open until after my flight left. I
explained my problem but she just said "Sorry, there is nothing I can do." We
got to talking and I asked if I could try out some of the Martinique Creole I had
learned.
She was surprised that I was learning a little of their local language. We
had some fun doing this and she was impressed with my pronunciation. After a while, I
again said how much I regretted not being able to get some postcards and stamps before I
left. This time she said "Just a minute" and went and got the key and opened the
gift shop and let me buy some postcards and stamps. I don't know if speaking a little
Martinique Creole gave her a change of heart or not, but I got my postcards and stamps
after all.
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